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Richmond vs VCU Odds & Prediction: Betting Value on Spiders?

Richmond vs VCU Odds

Friday, Feb. 24
7 p.m. ET
ESPN2

Richmond Odds
Spread Total Moneyline
+9
-110
134.5
-105o / -115u
+350
VCU Odds
Spread Total Moneyline
-9
-110
134.5
-105o / -115u
-450
Odds via
PointsBet
. Get up-to-the-minute
college basketball odds
here.

VCU has established itself as the class of the A-10. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean much when the league is in such a down year.

Richmond characterizes this “down year” mentality better than any team in the conference. At 14-14 overall and 7-8 in league play, Richmond sits just outside the top 150 in KenPom and boasts a 1-5 Quad 1/Quad 2 record.

But is it worth betting on VCU as a nine-point conference favorite? The Rams are only 10-13 against the spread (ATS) as a favorite this year.

Richmond Spiders
Before we start, all of us at The Action Network wish Chris Mooney the best as he undergoes heart surgery. As one of the nation’s longest-tenured coaches, we hope to see him back on the sidelines soon.

Peter Thomas will guide the Spiders for the rest of the season, and he has a project ahead of him.

Despite Richmond’s recent victory over Saint Louis, the Spiders have been trending down all season. They’ve won just four of their past seven games behind one of the conference’s worst defenses.

Photo via BartTorvik.
There are plenty of positives to pull from Richmond’s play, however.

First, the defense has gotten unlucky. ShotQuality projects Richmond for positive defensive shooting regression across the board, and the site has graded four of the Spiders’ past six losses as analytical wins.

Specifically, Richmond is a rock-solid, defensive-rebounding team that does a good job of defending without fouling. Meanwhile, 7-footer Neal Quinn spearheads the league’s best post-up defense.

Second, Tyler Burton leads a decent interior attack. Burton is in the running for an All-Conference spot, mostly thanks to his interior scoring ability.

Richmond runs a Princeton offense that largely works off-ball, and Burton’s feel for cutting and finding open space is why he’s averaging nearly 20 points per game. He’s also a solid three-level scorer with good touch and a smooth stroke.

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